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Rohit's Realm - College Life

August 20, 2002

Can anyone really think of anything worse? I just spent 4 hours trying to remember where in the HELL I spent $10 between July 6th and July 8th (as I had starting and ending balances, but a discrepancy in the amounts), only to realize I had added the first balance wrong and in fact my checkbook was really balanced all along. I am a majoring in electrical engineering & computer science, otherwise know as a major in pound me in the ass mathematics, and yet I cannot balance my checkbook or even add correctly, even while using a calculator.

August 23, 2002

So I woke up yesterday at 6:30 a.m., but it was dark so I went to sleep again. I then woke up again at 9:30 a.m., but it was still dark, so I went back to sleep again. I then got out of bed at 12:30 p.m., and IT WAS STILL DARK!!! What the HELL is wrong with the weather in this godforsaken Bay Area. Why is Nor Cal weather so ridiculously cold? And more importantly, why is it even called a part of California at all? California denotes great weather, warm, sandy, beaches, hot girls, and expensive real estate.

August 25, 2002

So freshman year, I had four 8 a.m. classes in Fall and five 8 a.m. classes in Spring. I swore to myself at the end of Spring that I would cut down on the 8 a.m. classes, and when I did scheduling (for the first time), I did. I was enrolled in Econ, EE, CS, BA, and English, so my first class was 9! NO 8 A.M. classes. But slowly, as the summer progressed, my schedule changed itself, moving more and more towards the 8 a.m. hell that I know all too well.

August 28, 2002

Everyone knows the fear, pain, and hardship of having to do laundry. But, I contend that my hardship is much greater than yours. Why? Well, no laundry on site, but OK, that's OK...the landlord gave us a key to the laundry room, so it's cool, right? NO! The first time I went there, I had to go through a shady, darkened gate, on the right side of the building, and all the way around the building, basically to the left side, but the only door was on the right. Cute already. Then, to get to the laundry room, it is necessary to pass through a passage that is about 5'7'' tall. Yeah, that's right, about 6'' shorter than me.

September 10, 2002

(Well, not really, but it sucked!) So, I woke up today, feeling really tired, sick, and feverish. I didn't want to go to math discussion at 8 a.m. because it is usually entirely useless. But then, I remembered, I postponed reading my bio lab until today because I felt tired and sick on Monday night too. So, I went to math discussion (and it was fairly useless), and then went to the library to read the bio lab and do the pre-lab activities. Little did I realize that it was waiting to pounce, as the lab turned out to be FIFTY pages of reading, and took over an hour.

September 11, 2002

Good for Pac Bell. We set up TWO phone lines on August 5th...my line started working September 9th. Yes, that is OVER a month of payment without service. Without even a goddamn line running into the apartment. But wait, Pac Bell isn't responsible for the line working...oh no, them being the TELEPHONE company, they just make sure the line has dial tone...somewhere...could be the sewer or in France. Somewhere a dirty rat or a smelly turd are conversing with long lost family over satellite, digital communication systems. As long as the dial tone is there, they have done their job. I was told this repeatedly by the 15 or so repair technicians we had to bring out to solve the problem. The problem being, there was no line in the house, but they told us our house was equipped for two phone lines. Yes, I know...WTF??? The guy finally came out on Monday, but he was there to do a installation, as if what we had done a month earlier was just nothing...we paid the installation/activation FEES but wait, that doesn't mean we actually have phone service...the guy has to come out again one month later, dick around for 5 hours, and then charge a $125 to run a line from the box to the other side of the house...and then to top it all of, I have gotten like 10 phone calls from people looking for everyone from Jeff to Carol to Wheeler Street to the goddamn Queen of England...I guess Pac Bell canceled someone's line, and within minutes, gave me that phone number, so now i get the added bonus of fielding wrong numbers...does it get any better?? Just wait for the story about AT&T Cable Internet and TV!

September 20, 2002

It's Thursday morning...what does that mean? MATH QUIZ at 8 a.m.—one that counts. So I got my ass out of bed and crawled up a mountain rivaling Everest to Etcheverry Hall at 8 a.m. yesterday morning. No GSI is there, so basically the class and I engaged in a group masturbatory event while waiting for the GSI to show up with the quiz. He final does, at 8:30 a.m., and announces the good news: NO QUIZ today...the professor forgot to write one.

September 28, 2002

So I get home from a rather futile attempt at doing CS homework in the library, and go to throw something away in the bathroom, only to find yellow water nearly at the brink of the toilet. Freaking out, I bust out the plunger in an attempt to unclog the toilet and let the water flow down. My roommate arrives and we both attempt, but nothing happens...so we turn off the water and try to flush, but this is futile, and the level of water just rises an inch more than it was, nearly at the overflow point...20 minutes more of attempted plunging results in failure and a destroyed plunger. Plunger-less, we are forced to travel to meet other commitments. Having completed this, it's now around 10 p.m. and we are hungry as hell. We head up to Taco Bell, only to find it closed at 10 p.m. on a SATURDAY NIGHT, in a COLLEGE TOWN. DAMMIT!

November 07, 2002

Ever woken up with the distinct feeling that your body just went through a trash compactor? No? Well, you don't know what you're missing. Recently, I've been feeling like this almost everyday at 6:30 a.m., when I drag myself out of bed and into the shower.

November 21, 2002

There's something magical about being awake at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. And no, I don't mean the fresh morning air, or the clear blue skies. I mean the pain, the exhaustion, the desire to sleep and not wake up (for at least a week). The hatred for everyone and everything. Really, this is a great time to be awake. And normally, I would have nothing against being awake at 6:30 a.m., because some people do that and that's their thing, and that's OK. But it was never and will never be my thing. Chance and fate and other stupid stuff like that have forced me to be awake around 6:30 a.m. almost every single day that I have been at college (excluding weekends and holidays, of course), but this by no means implies that I either enjoy or tolerate this life. I will not fall into complacency. I will fight!! In other news, my next semester schedule is almost complete (but far from finalized), and only includes two (unavoidable) 8am classes and only three techs. This schedule might completely change, but there is no plan to increase either the number of techs or the number of 8 a.m. classes. Then again, neither was there this plan last semester and look what happened. Only time will tell.

January 08, 2003

That's right. I'm back in Berkeley. The hate for life hasn't returned yet, but the crappy food (prepared by moi) has. Monday I bought cheesy sticks from West Coast and a 2L bottle of Coke. This was sufficient for dinner for two days, and I had lunch out while at work. But today, feeling guilty about having just spent $270 on a new iPod, I decided I should eat meals at home.

January 09, 2003

Where the hell has the rain been this past week, hell, this past semester?! Well, here it comes! And I was almost beginning to forget where I live now. When I left the house, it was rather dark outside, but I decided that considering the weather forecast only a 50% chance of rain today, I wouldn't bother with carrying around an umbrella.

January 20, 2003

All right, I'm gonna do this like Chris Berhman on ESPN. 2 Minutes. No bullshit. Friday, went to work, then to Unit Two Computing Center to test out login tracking. There from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. PCs work, Macs don't. How typical. Worse than that, I have just gotten accustomed to working till 7 p.m. on a Friday evening, and this is only my second year in college. I have only fear for what my life will be like when I get a real job. Go to Sufficient Grounds, get a really nice sandwich, go home, too tired to do anything, so just sleep pretty much.

February 02, 2003

So, what's been going on recently with me? Well, on Thursday night, I went out and played rugby for a couple of hours. Rugby, you ask? Why yes—rugby. And yes, I know I only weigh like 135 lbs. And yes, I got crushed and now my back hurts and I have huge bruises on my shins and ankles, etc. Am I going to go again and play next week? OF COURSE! Wouldn't miss it, unless I had to do homework or something. Going outside and playing was really fun. I haven't played a fun game since... summer. But this wasn't my enlightening experience of the weekend. Read forth and learn of my enlightenment.

February 06, 2003

I had a really interesting day today. As the title of this post would suggest, it consisted of good, bad, and ugly things—yeah, I feel the need to restate the obvious. Anyway. I'm in a good mood right now, so let me begin with the good stuff. I had my second class in 390 Hearst, because my English class was moved there (from 102 Wurster), and I must say, I really like that building. It's very pretty inside, naturally lit, and from my seat (I've already claimed one for myself in this lecture hall), I can see the Campanile, just like I could during Physics 7A Lab, in Fall 2001.

February 09, 2003

I suppose it seems rather pointless and trite to make a post about the weather recently, but having such sunny weather in the middle of February is bound to make everyone feel less depressed, and more upbeat, so I will justify my thoughts on the weather by saying, Look—it makes everyone happy. That has to do with feelings right? And who the hell said that blog entries must always be about feelings and all the depressing aspects of life in the first place? Focus on the good things in life—or pessimism will consume you and you will become as cynical as I once was.

February 13, 2003

Why am I anxious for the weekend? No big reason really. Pretty much nothing important planned for the three days off, but I just want to do nothing for awhile. I've been keeping up with work pretty well for the most part, and so I guess I want a small break to chill. Plus, this week's been pretty long in general—long days basically. I've been leaving at like 7:40 – 8 a.m. every day and not returning home at all until maybe 7 or 8 p.m., which is getting to be pretty strenuous. Nothing compared to the fun times last semester of course, but still I don't want to repeat last semester's physical and academic self-destruction. Been trying to sleep earlier, which has been definitely helping in terms of exhaustion. Getting to bed before 12:30 a.m. every weeknight of this semester has made the 8 a.m. classes more bearable. Also, the decrease in total hours of class and only having three 8 a.m. classes instead of five is also helping a lot! Work is picking up again in the last few days, because I want more money to buy some sweet new computer parts and stuff.

February 15, 2003

Last night would have been a big bust, but I wasn't really expecting much, so it was no big deal. The only thing that makes me mad is that I had to pay to get in to Cloyne (a coop), and then nothing happened, so I just ended up hanging out with other people. I might as well have not gone, and just chilled with the others the entire night, but I wanted to check it out because of multiple recommendations. Oh well, considering the amount of work for school I want to get done, and the other stuff I want to do (for fun), it's probably a good thing that the party last night didn't end up going on until 3 a.m., because then I would have inevitably ended up waking up at 3 p.m., and then I wouldn't be able to do anything today.

February 19, 2003

My three day weekend concluded on a positive note, with Jim's second party, although it was rather harsh to have to go into work on Monday. After work on President's Day, two hours were spent in the computer labs in Cory, working on an EE 20 lab. I must say that I much prefer the Soda labs to those of Cory, despite Cory's computers being a hell of a lot nicer. I guess I have just grown accustomed to the Soda labs after my fun filled 40 hour weekends spent there during summer taking CS 61B.

February 26, 2003

Two things happened today that got me thinking a lot more about myself. First, I finally got around to writing my outline for my First Year Experience for CalSO, considering it was due today. As I tried to summarize the happenings of an entire year into a 3 page outline (15 minute speech), I realized how much I had changed in the last two years. Looking at where I am now, on a personal level, I seriously began to wonder whether people I went to high school with would even recognize me anymore, were I to be introduced to them today. Everything, from my personality, to my demeanor, to my attitude, to my outlook on life has significantly changed since my senior year in high school. In retrospect, I cannot attribute this change to any specific, pivotal event in the last two years. And considering that it just dawned on me today, it certainly was a slow transition, one which I can readily say is yet very incomplete.

March 02, 2003

I went to do laundry today, which is always a huge production, considering I have no on-site laundry. It's the biggest pain in the ass ever. But in any case, I had headed to the normal laundromat I have been frequenting this entire semester, and started up the laundry, when two of the most obnoxious idiots came into the store. It was a man and a woman, closer to thirty than twenty, dressed like junior high school kids having a severe identity crisis. The guy was wearing torn shorts, had a green mohawk, chain wallet, too many piercings, and large chains around his neck, that probably made it hard for him to walk. The woman looked pregnant, but wasn't, had enough makeup on so you couldn't see her face or recognize any features, and had dark purple hair.

March 07, 2003

Anyone who has ever set foot on the Berkeley campus knows about Sproul Plaza. The hordes of protesters protesting something or another, the lines of tables advocating something that you're not interested in, the extremely well informed (and insane) bums screaming about some current event, and of course, everyone's favorite Sproul manifestation, the proverbial flyer-er.

March 09, 2003

Extraordinary days rarely happen for me. If they happened a lot, they wouldn't be extraordinary, right? Nevertheless, I think while nothing happened this weekend that sets it apart from any other weekend this year, the one thing that I can say is that I got a lot done. I was planning on getting up at 9 am today and doing my damn chem problem sets that I'm behind on, but that didn't happen. I don't know what's up with me recently, but I've just been feeling really sleepy all the time.

March 13, 2003

Not to sound like a Hardy Boys novel, but I liked the sound of that title. Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Rohit, member of the graduating class of 2003, 2004, and 2005. That's right. Now, when I mention my having had senior standing since the summer of my freshman year, most people remark how cool that must be. I beg to differ. Having senior standing has brought nothing but pain and anguish to me since my first year.

March 15, 2003

All my life, as long as I can remember back, I've had a tendency to burn both ends of the candle. Well, I suppose this phrase doesn't apply to my pre-high school days as directly, but definitely in the last six years, it seems like each year, I sleep less, work more, and have less time to do anything but what I'm already committed to. This trend has become especially significant since I began college because I fear I may be approaching maximum capacity.

March 16, 2003

My last laundromat experience was so shocking for me, that I managed to write an entire entry about how the vagabonds of University Avenue terrorize innocent laundry-doers. Having experienced what I did with the bottom rung of society, I didn't expect to have to endure a worse experience, but I was sorely mistaken: my trip today to the laundromat turned out to be much, much, much worse than any before.

April 05, 2003

No, I did not go to a disco or anything like that. Oh no. My day proved I was an even bigger loser. I spent nearly all of it at the library, learning about molecules and stuff. But that is nothing new. Read on, however, and learn what is.

April 06, 2003

Sunday. It's laundry day. The last two have resulted in me discovering the bottom rung of society as well as realizing that the laundromat is the worst place ever. Today was no exception to this general trend of horrible laundromat experiences, but I think it was the most significant because it was very upsetting to me. Let me describe it from the beginning.

April 25, 2003

My grandfather passed away yesterday. He was 84 years old. I got a phone call last night around 10 p.m. My dad broke the news to me immediately. I couldn't say anything for a moment. I didn't really know how to respond. I was definitely not expecting anything like that. I didn't even know he was sick. I guess being out here in Berkeley really cuts me out of the loop on a lot of stuff. My dad was speaking very calmly—too calmly. I didn't know how to respond to that either. The conversation was filled with long bouts of silence.

May 08, 2003

Welcome to the College of Ludicrousness & Stupidity, otherwise known as the College of L&S. You're about to begin your journey into incompetence, ineptitude, and foolishness. Each day you are a member of this college, you will feel yourself get dumber. This is normal. Think about what you will have achieved by the time you graduate!

September 20, 2003

I'm sure all of you have read the famous poem by Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night. If you haven't, the basic gist of the poem is (and correct me if I'm wrong, English majors) that it rejects Alfred Lord Tennyson's notion of softly dying, as expressed in his poem, Crossing the Bar. Now, I know what you're thinking: what the hell does this have to do with anything and thanks for that little bit of info, Rohit, you stupid ass. But bear with me—I'm going to make a point.

September 22, 2003

I have found a new population of people to target my wrath at for today. It's ok - I'm sure most you hate them as well, so this should not be a very controversial entry. Then again, maybe some of you folks out there are actually the type of people I am going to write about, and then you will be upset, because I called you out on your despicable behavior. Either way, something had to be said, and I am just the guy to say it.

October 04, 2003

I just turned 20 today. Or yesterday. Or whatever. You know what they say... your birthday is not over until you go to bed, right? So, technically, I am writing this entry on my birthday, even though it will show up as October 4th. The more important factor here is that number: 20... twenty... two decades.

October 10, 2003

There hasn't been a bad laundromat incident in almost seven months now. Last spring I had a series of awful experiences at laundromats, such as this one, this one, and this one. The main reason for the lack of bad experiences is that I moved to Unit 3 in May and have been doing laundry at the relatively sheltered Unit 3 laundry facility ever since then, which is not frequented by bums as is the University Ave. Laundromat. Nevertheless, I have learned a new sort of pain and come to the conclusion that I will never be able to complete a load of laundry without something bad happening.

October 18, 2003

Friday night, I slept during the day for the first time in a long, long time. I hate napping during the day, because I inevitably wake up feeling more tired than I was before, and moreover, then I cannot fall asleep at night and this ruins my schedule for like four days, before I can restore my routine. In any case, I could not stay awake Friday afternoon and so I slept from 5 pm to about 7:30 pm. I woke up craving Indian food badly. I had not eaten any Indian food in months so I guess this explained the craving.

October 31, 2003

Tonight, Halloween Night 2003, marks the second anniversary of rohitsrealm.com. Two years ago, I uploaded the first version, a version so different that most people would not even recognize it. All it had was a brief biography, picture gallery made from HTML, and a quotes section. In honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to make some major changes to the site, in my ever persistent desire to remain in congruity with current online trends.

November 04, 2003

Hell must have frozen over, because I seriously can't think of anything major that I want to buy. As I had said earlier, I went on a mad spending spree to end all sprees this summer and into the fall. However, since then, I have managed to keep my spending in check, only whipping out the credit card for two Mac-related purchases: an iPod case so my iPod would not get scratched up and a Waterfield laptop sleeve for my Powerbook for the same purpose. Minimal purchases, if you ask me. And nefariously useful too. What the hell is up with that? I want to buy something I don't need. A complete waste of money. Like another computer. Or another camera. Or better yet, both. Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.

November 25, 2003

I'm thinking of buying a gun. No, I haven't become a gun nut yet, but given my recent and altogether unacceptable experience with psychos and weirdos, I think buying a gun might be a good idea. At least then, I could wave it around and pretend to be threatening with my 6'2'', 140 lbs frame. Let me explain.

December 01, 2003

This year's Thanksgiving holiday had to be one of the most intense ever! Not going back home for the first time ever; staying in the dorms and cooking turkey (well I didn't cook, Lizzy did, but I was a nuisance and got in the way); and just being around in Berkeley when no one else was all contributed to the aforementioned intensity. But, what do you mean by intense? Well, I don't know—it just was. Some things defy articulation. But that won't stop me from trying to explain.

December 11, 2003

Hi, Rohit. This is Sanity speaking. I have something to tell you: I'm leaving you. It's not you, it's me. I've just decided that I need to move on. Please don't think that this is your fault. It's not. I'm just not ready for this kind of commitment. Perhaps if we had found each other at another time, it might have worked out, but Fate has settled the matter. It just wasn't meant to be. I hope you understand. I really hope we can still remain friends. I just wanted to let you know that it was great while it lasted. Goodbye.

December 20, 2003

I had possibly one of the most miserable flights home yesterday that I could have ever had in my life. Flying home from Berkeley has always been a shitty experience, ever since my first year, but this trip broke all records. It was so bad, I almost started laughing and crying all at the same time on numerous occasions!

December 23, 2003

It's the holiday season again. Jingle bells are ringing, are you listening? Shit. I don't hear any bells. Just the pitter-patter of light rain gently beating the roof of my house, but I am feeling the spirit. Being at home for the last few days has been really fun. I haven't done much but eat, sleep, watch episodes of The West Wing from the first season, and hang out with Uni people. It feels great to be home—my first time in almost eight months. In addition to the shitty weather and the horrendous traffic, another way you can tell that it's the holiday season is by the invariable top ten/twenty/hundred/million lists that come out during this time documenting the year that has just about past. Well, in keeping with my desire to be super trendy, I too decided to publish a list of my own. As I have nothing really to speak about other than myself, this list will be about the most unexpected things that happened to me this year, aptly called: Rohit's Biggest WTFs of 2003.

February 01, 2004

Anyone who has the slightest familiarity with the happenings of my life (and I feel bad for you, if you do) realizes that I am a type of person who seemingly attracts idiots and imbeciles everywhere I go. The reason for this awful trend remains dubious at best, although I would venture that it is either a result of: (1) Fate; (2) my self-aggrandizing egotistical belief that the world revolves around me; or (3) pheromones. Personally, I really hope it's not the first reason because I don't know if I could go on knowing that I'm destined to encounter more incompetence for the rest of my life! Plus, if it were the third reason, I could just use a better soap and wash away all those pesky pheromones! All this is besides the point. The point of this entry is to discuss yet another potent force of destruction that has plagued me since high school—the phantom telephonist.

February 24, 2004

Caffeine. It is America's drug of choice—perhaps the whole world's—and doubly so if you look at the college-age population. In making this assertion, I am overtly and consciously ignoring alcohol as the college drug of choice. This is for many reasons, most important of which is the fact that I have something to say about caffeine and this introductory paragraph is really just crap. Another equally important reason on which I will justify my decision is that caffeine is the college drug of choice used with some beneficial purpose in mind. Again, I am sure people will contest this last point, claiming alcohol too can be used for beneficial purposes, particularly for saying and doing (sketchy) things with relative impunity. Point conceded. If your purpose is to tell that bastard that he really sucks or that man/woman that you would not mind doing them, I grant you that alcohol will definitely help you on your way there. Restricting the definition of beneficial to substances that aid in academics or work, however, removes alcohol from the mix, as it has no beneficial role to play in this context. And no, it still does not count as beneficial if you are suicidal and need to drink to get through school or work.

March 07, 2004

I am usually not the kind of guy to put too much stock into astrology, although I admit that I can't completely discount it either. Anyway, in the course of trying to waste time, I idly clicked on some link in a friend's profile and came across the Alcohol Horoscope, which I think I had seen before, but am not really sure. Reading it again, though, made me stop and think about the accuracy of astrology—it was dead on!

April 21, 2004

By far, one of my favorite expressions in the English language is shit hitting the fan. It is just so descriptive. I believe in this expression so much, in fact, that I would go as far as to say that it can describe Life as a whole. (Who really needs philosophers when you have idiots like me making all these preposterous claims?) First, let me warn you: if you take offense to the word shit, you are not going to like the rest of my post. Second, if you are grossed out by shit, you probably will not like the rest of my post either. Having dispensed with the disclaimers, ready, set, let's go!

June 27, 2004

Remember that dorky club from high school: the Future Business Leaders of America? Well, how about the Future Drug Lords of America? Why do I mention this? Because I'm looking to join the latter. Hey, you should be happy I didn't say I wanted to join the former.

July 07, 2004

After over three years of living the high life (so to speak) using Berkeley public transportation, I finally broke down and decided to bring a car up for my fourth and final year of college. So much for being cheap, right? I went home last weekend for introductions and drove back to Berkeley on Monday. Needless to say, after roughing six odd hours of holiday traffic, my car and I are much more than acquainted.

July 31, 2004

People often ask me how I can say that I rarely, if ever, get depressed. I don't know if that's a routine question or they are insinuating that I should be more depressed than I am, but I'm just going to ignore that matter for now. Usually, I just cryptically say that I have access to an unusual antidepressant, but this has had the negative effect of bringing my emotional stability into scrutiny. To set the record straight, I'd like to explain my technique for not being depressed.

March 13, 2005

Despite my fine-tuned eye for allthingsposeur, it was brought to my attention yesterday that I had completely missed a crucial development in poseur-land, which now requires my unrestrained commentary. Interestingly enough, when Phil pointed out that he had recently noticed a lot of poseur idiots walking around Clark Kerr with popped collars and asked me why I hadn't yet ripped these fools, I noted the extent to which I had completely ignored this phenomenon. Although I had perhaps seen it subconsciously several times, I had never stopped to think how stupid it looks. Well, there's a first time for everything.

May 23, 2005

With my time in Berkeley coming to a close very soon, I have had to say many goodbyes in the past few weeks to people, places, and things. Those who know me know that I'm not exactly an emotional person, and in particular, I'm not very emotional about goodbyes. I think the following email I wrote to friends and colleagues at ResComp, where I have worked the longest of any job I have held at Cal (three years in various capacities) really sums up my approach:

July 18, 2005

January 4, 1988. Reagan was President, Gorbachev was General Secretary of the Communist Party, the stock market was recovering from Black Monday, and Michael Jackson's Bad was less than four months old. That very same day, in a small, nondescript town in southern Orange County known for its clean streets, wide roads, and cookie-cutter houses, a small boy just turned four, and relatively shy, emerged from comforts of his home to confront the world of academia—a world that would occupy his life for the next eighteen years to follow.